The true cost of maternity charging

O'Cearnaigh, Roisin; Melamed, Anna

Abstract

The introduction of health charging for maternity services contributes to vulnerable migrant women not receiving the antenatal care they need. Despite the commitment to bringing down health inequalities by the Department of Health, this policy deters pregnant women from accessing antenatal care. This is is dangerous for mothers and babies, damaging to the midwife, mother relationship and ultimately costly for the NHS. We know this group is at higher risk of morbidity and mortality and as midwives we have a duty to address the social obstacles to good care as well as physical ones.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 14, 2018
• Online Publication Date: May 1, 2018
• Publication Date: May 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Sep 21, 2022
• Journal: The Practicing Midwife
• Print ISSN: 1461-3123
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9969796
• Related Public URLs: https://www.practisingmidwife.co.uk/index.html; ; https://www.all4maternity.com/